Professional shooters, such as for example members of SWAT teams and military personnel, often wear gloves as part of the equipment associated with the firearm that they are called upon to handle. It is common for such gloves to be made wholly or partly of an antiballistic material in order to offer protection to the shooter's hand(s) while they are exposed. It is also common for the shooter to modify a newly acquired glove by removing a portion of the glove's trigger finger. This enables the shooter to have a better “feel” for the pull of the trigger and therefore the shot can be more accurate.
While the removal of the distal portion of the glove's trigger finger may be important to insure a good trigger feel, it is also disadvantageous in that the removal of this portion of the glove's trigger finger is often accomplished by the shooter simply cutting off the distal end of the finger portion of the glove with a knife or scissors. Since most shooter's gloves are made of woven or knitted material, this action cuts the threads of the material from which the glove has been made. This will likely causes the fabric of the remainder of the glove/finger body to unravel. In a very short time, the glove fabric unravels sufficiently so that at least the trigger finger, and possibly the whole glove, becomes relatively useless.
In one aspect of the prior art, cut rings have been provided on more finger elements than just the index or trigger finger. Therefore, a plurality, or even all, of the finger elements may be equipped with one or more cut rings and a suitable number of finger tip elements removed at the user's will.
It is also common for professional shooters to use shooting gloves made of materials that are flame and powder flash resistant. Gloves made of these same materials are often worn by aviators as well. One specific material that has been used for making shooter's gloves is NOMEX ® polyaramide fiber. This material has excellent fire resistance, but is less resistant to penetration by a knife or other cutting threat than would be desirable. NOMEX polyaramide fiber is less resistant to being cut by flying glass or metal particles than is desirable.
It has been found to be desirable for conventional shooter's gloves to fit with about the same, or even increased, snugness as in the manner of ordinary gloves that are conventionally used to protect the hands against cold. While a loose fit increases insulation against penetration by cold ambient conditions, this loose fit can cause slip between the weapon and the hand of the shooter. Such slippage can detract from the accuracy of a shot.
Loose fitting of a glove is advantageous where warmth is the reason for wearing the glove. However, it can be a disadvantage where the glove covers the hand of a shooter whose accuracy of shot is of paramount importance. The extra material that is used to make a glove body fit loosely, and to thereby increase its warmth retention characteristics, can be an obstruction to accuracy in the case of a shooting glove. It is therefore well known that shooting gloves should have as snug a fit as possible, suitably a skin tight fit.
It is common for law enforcement and military personnel to be required to rappel as part of their deployment. Rappelling requires that the rappeller's hands be gloved so that they can slide down a rope to permit the rappeller to reach an objective. The rappelling glove protects the hands of the rappeller from burning as he slides down the rope. At the same time, the friction between the rope and the glove causes the material from which the glove is made to deteriorate. It does not take a great many rappelling actions for the glove to be substantially worthless as a rappelling glove.
Importantly, shooter's gloves as described herein and in the parent applications are relatively expensive. They are made of certain specific materials that enable the shooter to have a firm grip on his weapon while at the same time enabling the shooter's hands to maintain their warmth and giving the shooter a good trigger feel. Some of the materials of construction are antiballistic fabrics, which are inherently expensive. A shooter's glove is designed for maximum contact between the shooter and the weapon. It is inherently not designed to protect a rappeller's hands from burns inflicted by sliding down a rope. When a shooter's glove, designed as set forth herein and in the parent applications, is used for rappelling, it wears out so fast that the shooter cannot get full value from his investment in the expensive shooter's glove. Similarly, previous gloves that have been made specifically for use in rappelling are stiff and bulky with padding in order to protect the hands, particularly the palms, of the rappeller against burns caused by rope sliding. As such, prior rappeller's gloves tended to make for impeded shooting accuracy.